Track & Field Steps Onto Big Stage

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Fourteen Central Michigan student-athletes will test themselves against the best of the best with the goal of a top-12 finish this weekend at the NCAA Track and Field East Preliminary at the University of North Florida's Hodges Stadium.

The meet gets underway on Thursday and runs through Saturday. Each event features 48 participants and the top 12 finishers in each advance to the NCAA Championships at the University of Texas in Austin, June 5-8.

The West Preliminary is scheduled to run simultaneously at Sacramento State in California. As with the East, the top 12 in each event in Sacramento advance to Austin.

Three Chippewas – Megan O'Neil, Janelle Perry and Erin Howard -- have qualified for the East Preliminary in two events each; two Chippewas are making their third consecutive appearance in the preliminary, and several are in it for the second straight year.

CMU QUALIFIERS
• O'Neil, senior from Stanwood, women's 5,000- and 10,000-meter runs.

• Janelle Perry, senior from Akron, Ohio, women's long jump and the 100 hurdles.

• Erin Howard, sophomore from Lansing, women's shot put and discus.

• Gabriella Beauvais, junior from Monona, Wis., women's 400.

• Nadia Williams, junior from Mount Horeb, Wis., women's long jump.

• Siobhan Szerencsits, freshman from Lewis Center, Ohio, women's pole vault.

• Megan McElroy, sophomore from Carthage, Ill., women's javelin.

• Marissa Dunn, sophomore from Novi, women's hammer throw.

• Quiara Wheeler, sophomore from Flint, women's hammer throw.

• Shane Moffo, senior from Farmington Hills, men's 110 hurdles.

• Jack Dodge, sophomore from Walled Lake, men's 400.

• Jackson Blanchard, freshman from Houghton Lake, men's 400 hurdles.

• Kevin Weiler, senior from Swartz Creek, men's shot put.

• Logan Targgart, junior from Coldwater, men's hammer throw.

BIG NUMBER
The 14 qualifiers represents the most CMU has qualified for the preliminary in a number of years.

Jenny Swieton, who is in her second year as the Chippewas' director of track & field/cross country, said the ever-improving number of CMU qualifiers can be attributed to several factors, including event-by-event training partners who push each other on a daily basis.

"I think whenever you have high-level people to train with it makes it easier to be successful because you battle every day in practice," she said. "I think that is very important for track and field.

"I also think that our team in general believes that they can, and I think that (belief) has gotten better and better as the last couple years have progressed. At the end of last year you could tell that they we starting to believe that they were able. Believing you can do it is half the battle -- more than half the battle.

And they are all super determined and hard workers; they make good decisions outside of practice and inside of practice and I think that is a huge component of it. They realize that at the end of the day they are the ones who get the merits, not the coach, not anyone else, it is them and they take responsibility in what they do and that makes all the difference in the world."

BACK IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Williams earned All-America honors at the NCAA Indoor Championships in March. That experience, plus the fact that so many of the Chippewas are the preliminary for the second or even third time, is an obvious benefit, Swieton said.

But, she added, sometimes a little naiveté can work to one's advantage.

"For some people, it may be beneficial to have never been there before and not know what to expect," she said. "You just go in and give it everything you have and you do not pay attention to everyone around you."

FEEL THE HEAT
The Jacksonville weather forecast for all three days of the East Preliminary calls for highs in the mid 90s, something the Chippewas – along with many of their competitors – are unaccustomed to.

"We have known all year that this was going to be in Jacksonville and we knew that (weather) was going to add another component to it so it just preparing everybody in every way mentally and physically the best that we can do at this point," Swieton said. "There are going to be a whole lot of people in the same situations as us; very few places in country have been hot all year. It is a huge temperature change for them as well and we just have to handle it better than they do."

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Gabriella Beauvais

Jackson Blanchard

Jack Dodge

Marissa Dunn

Erin Howard

Megan McElroy

Shane Moffo

Megan O'Neil

Janelle Perry

Siobhan Szerencsits

Logan Targgart

Kevin Weiler

Quiara Wheeler

Nadia Williams